APPENDIX 24
Memorandum submitted by the Linnean Society
of London
A. INFORMATION
ON THE
HISTORY AND
ACTIVITIES OF
THE LINNEAN
SOCIETY
1. The Linnean Society, founded in 1788,
is the world's oldest continuously active natural history society.
Its mission is to promote the study of the biology of whole organisms
by persons at all levels of age, background and expertise. It
was at the Linnean Society that Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell
Wallace first made public their thoughts on the origin of species.
The society has maintained this tradition by subsequently continuing
to sponsor ground-breaking work in many relevant areas of natural
history.
2. The Society's members include both amateurs
and professionals. The categories of membership (with standard
annual subscriptions in brackets) are: Fellows (£40), Associates
(over 18 and under 29 years of age, £24) and Student Associates
(over 18 and under 24, £9). In terms of ethnicity, nationality,
social background, age and gender, the society's fellowship has
always been diverse. The one proviso of fellowship is an active
commitment to the pursuit of biology and natural history. The
Linnean does, however, pride itself on having been the first learned
society in Britain to admit women fellows, and women have long
ranked among its officers, presidents and most distinguished members.
The Society has an open and democratic constitution dating back
to its 1802 Charter. Members are drawn from 93 countries; 36 per
cent of the UK membership live or work in the Home Counties.
3. The Society organizes a programme of
meetings throughout the year, in which the general public are
welcome to participate. It publishes three learned Journals of
Biology, Botany and Zoology, which have international stature
in terms of their editors, contributors and readers. The Society
also produces a highly regarded Members' newsletter The Linnean,
the Synopses of British Fauna, with occasional and special
publications. Each year there are in total more than 40 issues
of all these. Papers are subjected to rigorous peer review. The
journals help to maintain the perception of Britain's leadership
in biology.
4. It awards small grants to support research
in a wide variety of scholarly studies in natural history and
systematics, to give assistance to serious natural historians
in the UK and abroad, and to help young PhD students. It awards
a variety of medals and prizes—for example, a recent obituary
of the internationally distinguished US naturalist, Richard Evans
Schultes, referred to his receipt of a Linnean medal as the equivalent
of a Nobel Prize. The various other awards go not only to professional
and amateur natural historians, young and old, but to botanical
artists as well. We also offer an annual prize for the best PhD
thesis in plant sciences. Grants are available to support research
by those no longer in full-time employment, and to pay the subscriptions
of those unable to afford them, eg Members in Eastern Europe,
Africa or Asia.
5. The Society has strong overseas connections
with occasional meetings abroad. For example, we are determined
to go ahead with a meeting in Pakistan on the natural history
and archaeology of the Hindu Kush either later this year or early
next year since this will bring together scientists from the West
and from Muslim countries. The Society also makes grants every
other year for work in tropical African botany, which have involved
scientists from a range of African countries.
6. The Society holds in trust for the benefit
of scientists across the world the botanical and zoological collections,
library and correspondence of Carl Linnaeus (comprising over 25,000
items in all). Apart from the extraordinary historical value of
these 18th century holdings, they are the very scientific reference
specimens (types) on which the names used today for many well-known
plants and animals are based. The Society's holdings are, therefore,
an exceptional resource for researchers both in taxonomy and the
history of science and are curated to the highest standards for
inspection by scholars and natural historians. We have embarked
on a programme to make available all our collections, for free,
on to the world-wide-web so that they can then be viewed by anyone
with access to the Internet.
7. The Society's library, in continuous
operation since our founding in 1788, is consulted (free of charge)
by scholars from all over the world.
8. The Society has initiated—either
alone or in partnership—a number of major national and international
projects in systematics and conservation of biodiversity. For
example, for many years in the first half of the 20th century
the desirability of a Flora of Europe had been evident. In 1957,
with the aid of a starter grant from the old DSIR, the Linnean
Society became the sponsor of the Flora Europaea project, which
was successfully completed only in 1980; the five volumes comprising
the Flora represented the work of 187 botanists in 24 countries,
and covered 11,557 species. This work continues with a major grant
from the EU Framework 5 programme. With partners on the mainland
of Europe, we also obtained Framework 5 funding for an even more
ambitious Fauna Europaea project to cover all the animal
species of Europe. Both these initiatives were taken forward by
some of our members as a result of a Linnean Society meeting held
in Leiden in 1995. The Society also sponsored Prof R J Berry's
project Biological Recording: Need and Network which foreshadowed
the National Biodiversity Network. Outside Europe, the Society
contributed to the 1988 Kimberley bicentenary expedition in Australia.
B. GOVERNMENT
FUNDING
9. Recurrent funding. The Linnean
Society receives no recurrent government funding.
10. Project funding. On a few occasions
post-war, the Linnean Society has been involved in government-funded
projects. An early example was the Flora Europaea project
(see paragraph 8 above) where the Society administered the Trust
that was established with the DSIR grant, coordinated the voluntary
participation of many professional botanists from a variety of
countries, and oversaw the final publication of the Flora.
In 1993 and 1995, grants from DFID allowed the Society to mount
two meetings on Brazil. More recently, after OST funding for The
Systematics Forum expired, the Society commissioned a report on
its activities and future prospects and is exploring ways of ensuring
continuation of its activities for specialist groups of systematists,
alongside its long-standing specialist groups in computer applications,
evolution, freshwater biology, palaeobotany, palynology and plant
anatomy. The Society has administered for many years the NERC
Fund for Taxonomic Publication.
11. Premises. In 1854 the Government
purchased Burlington House to fulfil a historic obligation to
accommodate certain scientific societies, and in 1856 allocated
some rooms in it for the use of the Linnean Society. The location
of the present day rooms is different due to changes elsewhere
in Burlington House. The precise legal status of the terms and
conditions of occupation of these rooms by the Society has been
the subject of ongoing discussion with government for a number
of years. At present, the Linnean Society carries responsibility
for their upkeep, maintenance, decoration, cleaning, security
and other running costs, as well as for conformity with legislation
such as that for Health & Safety.
12. Our rooms are made available for meetings
of a range of other learned societies and relevant charitable
organizations at modest rates. The Society has participated in
London Open House during which some hundreds of people
have visited the Society's rooms. Two pamphlets on the building
and the Society have been produced for these occasions.
C. ADVICE TO
GOVERNMENT
13. Over many years the Society has given
advice when requested to government and NGOs on matters concerned
with natural history, systematic biology and conservation. Ten
years ago, a House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology
chaired by the late Lord Dainton published a report highlighting
the parlous state of research in systematic biology; two former
Presidents of the Societies were the Committee's specialist advisers,
and the Society was amongst those submitting detailed evidence.
14. In the past 12 months we have commented
to DETR, now DEFRA, on the quinquennial review of the Royal Botanic
Gardens at Kew, to the former DETR on the government draft report
under the UN Biodiversity Convention, to DEFRA on its proposed
research strategies, and to NERC on its research strategies.
15. In the case of DEFRA and NERC, although
both have indicated the importance of the conservation of biodiversity,
neither provides the means to do it by supporting the kind of
research in systematic biology that is essential to underpin any
comprehensive programme of biodiversity conservation. We therefore
felt obliged to submit our views to the current House of Lords
Select Committee in Science and Technology enquiry into Biodiversity
and Systematics earlier this year—a continuation of the
enquiry mentioned in para 13 above. The President of the Linnean
Society also gave evidence in person to the Committee.
16. Because of the general concern about
the parlous state of research in systematic biology in the UK,
in 2000 we contacted 27 other Learned Societies interested in
aspects of the subject and arranged two meetings for their representatives.
The outcome was a document outlining both the problem and a possible
solution to it, which was then sent to the Government Chief Scientist
and the Minister for the Environment in July 2001. Again, we have
the feeling that firm support will be lacking from either quarter.
17. Through its representative on the Council
of the National Trust, the Society has contributed to the recognition
by the Trust of its responsibilities for biodiversity conservation
and land management, as well as the upkeep of its buildings. A
former representative of the Society was instrumental in introducing
a deer management programme for the Trust's land.
D. COMMUNICATING
SCIENCE TO
THE PUBLIC
18. The Society has sought, so far unsuccessfully,
to become a registered museum, which would allow it, through eligibility
for various grants, to become more accessible to the general public.
At present, the "public" with which the Society communicates
may be considered in four categories: school students; those non-professional
biologists in the UK with serious interests in aspects of natural
history; certain organizations in other countries; the global
community of workers in biology and its associated professions.
19. The Society's Schools Programme has
involved arranging meetings in various parts of the UK primarily
for sixthformers interested in natural history. To this end, the
Society has a coordinator of its schools' programme on its Programmes
Committee. In April 2001, with the Society for Experimental Biology,
the Society's President chaired a panel discussion at the University
of Kent at Canterbury involving some 60 sixthformers from local
schools. In January 2002, our coordinator, Ms. Mary Griffin, organized
a successful Saturday morning event in Dublin for sixthformers,
teachers and advisers, attended by over 100 people. Both the Canterbury
and Dublin meetings were concerned with current ethical problems
in biology. We are seeking to fit our own programmes into the
new curricula in schools.
20. With regard to amateur naturalists,
they are welcome at any of our meetings whether or not they are
members of the Society, and the Society's Programmes Committee
welcomes any suggestions for meetings on appropriate topics. Apart
from our Journals which are very much aimed at professionals,
we publish a variety of types of books of interest to a wide audience
(see www.linnean.org), the latest to go to press being on wildlife
and roads. Three display cases containing artefacts and representative
biological material are made available to the public in the foyer
of the Linnean Society (10-5pm on weekdays other than Bank Holidays).
The Society's rooms are used by other societies and organisations
400 times a year, so providing access to the foyer exhibition
and to some 50 framed portraits of biologists hanging throughout
the building. Visiting groups receive conducted tours by staff
by appointment.
21. With regard to the international scene,
a good example is the preparation for events to celebrate the
tercentenary of Linnaeus' birth in 2007. The President has already
visited Sweden to participate in a meeting to plan a range of
public events, television programmes, a new visitor centre, etc,
and to explore how the Society can be of assistance. Additionally,
we have already delegated to one of our Council, Dr. Jenny Edmonds,
of Leeds, the responsibility over the next five years for coordinating
various activities for a parallel celebration of the enormous
contribution to science made by Linnaeus.
E. GENERAL VIEWS
ON THE
ROLE OF
LEARNED SOCIETIES
22. In the field of natural history, we
are alarmed at the declining state of research into systematics
and whole organism biology in institutions, and its virtual disappearance
in universities (see paras 13 and 15, above). Likewise, education
in these subjects in schools and universities is in a parlous
state, despite the widespread lip-service paid to the "importance
of conserving biodiversity". We have now reached a stage
where, for example, there is now no longer any expert employed
anywhere in the UK by either government, museums or universities
who can authoritatively identify a number of major groups of fungi
(including, eg, mushrooms and toadstools, let alone potentially
disease-causing organisms in animals and plants). It is difficult
to conserve species (or, indeed, to conduct any other work with
them) without first having located, identified and studied them.
These are all functions of systematic biology. But this discipline,
the grammar and syntax of biodiversity studies, is increasingly
disregarded. The Linnean Society is determined to ensure that
the basic (some might complain, traditional) skills needed to
meet a very modern challenge are upheld and understood. In its
furtherance of this aim, the society would benefit from Government
recognition.
23. The UK systematics crisis compares unfavourably
with the situation other nations. In the United States, for example,
Federal, State and private support has encouraged botanic gardens
and learned institutions to sponsor a great revival of interest
in natural history and systematics. The New York Botanical Garden
teaches natural history to schoolchildren from every age group
and background and has come to be seen as a vital educational
resource. At the same time, the garden's library and herbarium
are home to more PhD candidates each year than the total of UK
doctoral students in systematic botany—and the New York
Garden is only one of several such institutions in the USA. Learned
societies like the Linnean could, with suitable encouragement
develop similar initiatives in the United Kingdom.
24. The tradition of the amateur naturalist
is a strong one in the UK, and it is catered for by a wide variety
of learned societies (some very small, with perhaps only 100 or
so members). In the UK, professional taxonomists are complemented
by their amateur colleagues in many areas such as bryology, entomology
and mycology. The Linnean Society, with its central location and
Meeting Room, Council Room, Committee Rooms and Library, is able
to encourage and support both amateur and professional taxonomists,
whose expertise benefits the furtherance of our knowledge of biodiversity
and sustainable use of our natural resources in both education
and research.
April 2002
|
